Bird
by sunfirejewels
Summary: Spock is transported through space and time to a world populated by a dying civilization-only he can save the remnants of what was once a thriving civilization, made of creatures that resemble birds.


Bird

by Sunfirejewels

Chapter 1

The white stone structure stood in the center of the meadow surrounded by low shrubs and purple flowers. The setting was so peaceful and perfectly landscaped that Jim thought surely there must be intelligent beings living near-by. The ship's sensors had recorded only this structure and nothing else in the way of artifacts, and no other signs of intelligent life but the steady hum of energy from this power source, an apparently empty building. It was an intriguing mystery, to be sure. The only life they had encountered was of the insect variety, and a number of mammal-like creatures resembling squirrels. An ideal park-like setting with no intelligent life and a few harmless mammals; a perfect place for a shore leave. Jim beamed down with a compliment of research personnel and security to investigate.

"The building, although resembling a natural material such a marble, is definitely constructed of a manufactured stone conglomerate such as the castcrete used by Starfleet for shelters." The Vulcan continued his analysis. "As for the power source—I am reading a low-level energy field surrounding the structure's perimeter. The frequency is similar to that used for our brig force fields, but of less intensity. Radiating from within the building itself, is a pattern of fluctuating energy that resembles the high energy bands used by Starfleet for deep space communications."

"It's a communications center, then?" Jim offered.

"Without further investigation, I can draw no conclusions, Captain."

The monument sat before them, pristine and enigmatic, and full of mysteries. Jim didn't like mysteries; they usually turned out to be deadly.

The two suns chased each other toward the horizon, and set with their customary splendor. But Tauron had no enthusiasm for the natural beauty surrounding his couch. The last stages of his lengthy illness had drawn only despair from his thoughts. He tried to keep them from Elian, but she knew from long association what the scourge could do to a man's mind. She expected nothing less than the total disintegration of his personality, followed by lingering pain and death. She prayed for his death.

"Elian," he called weakly, "don't leave me…"

"I'm here, Tauron." She put her face in view of his eyes, once so clear and bright with high intelligence, now clouded with pain. Even the soft, white feather-tendrils that surrounded his face were stained sickly yellow with long illness. The smell of death lingered in the room. The smell of death lingered in the very atmosphere, for surrounding their dwelling were thousands of her race, caught in the death throes of her dying civilization.

His breathing was becoming more labored, as if he were at the bottom of a well of atmosphere, instead of soaring with his thoughts over the sparkling cities of his world. She knew the end would come soon.

Spock studied the readouts from his tricorder and became more annoyed by the minute. Every measurement he made refused to correlate with the data he had already obtained. He wasn't so arrogant as to believe he possessed all the knowledge of the universe, but he expected to be able to give his captain answers when asked questions. So far, he could only report what he didn't know. It was very disturbing.

"Frustrated, Spock?" Jim saw a frown forming on that elegant Vulcan face.

"Frustration is a human emotion, Captain. One from which I am fortunately immune." Then he began his scans over again, just to be sure.

"Oh." Jim smiled softly to himself and walked away from Spock in the opposite direction, so as not to appear too anxious himself. He called to the Vulcan from a few yards away. "Maybe we're looking for something too complicated. Maybe it's only purpose is to be ornamental."

"Ornaments do not usually contain power sources, Captain."

"Well, maybe they were just extravagant with their energy."

"That is highly illogical, Captain."

Jim shrugged. "It's difficult to know what goes on inside an alien mind." That brought a glance from Spock, seasoned with a raised eyebrow. "It was clearly built for some definite purpose-however…" Spock lowered his tricorder and stared at the graceful curving lines of the structure.

" 'However…' " Jim continued.

"I am unable to fathom its purpose at this time, Captain. There are waves of energy emanating from inside the structure, but there is no indication of a doorway or passage into the interior. The energy frequencies coming from it are continually scrambled in such a way as to frustrate any attempts to accurately scan for mechanisms or intelligences that might be concealed inside. The only discernible energy pattern is the one I have mentioned before; high energy bands used for deep space communications."

"Frustration seems to be the operative word." Jim watched Spock circle the monument slowly, looking for clues.

"Indeed."

"It's getting late. I'll call in the other teams." Jim raised his communicator.

The Vulcan continued his circumnavigation. He found himself drawn to one particular spot in the curving wall. It looked no different from any other square meter of the white marble, but he knew from long experience with Jim that sometimes intuition paid off with answers. It wasn't logical, but there was something different about this side of the platform. He stepped up between the columns, beginning to scan again. Intricate carvings in bas relief ran around the interior wall as it curved away from him. There was no known language written here, that had been one of the first things he had checked. It matched no inscriptions that he was familiar with. He reached out a hand to touch the wall, and…

…found himself standing on a white marble platform in the cool, shaded interior of a large, white monument. Through the columns around him he saw people moving in the distance. He opened his communicator immediately and tried to contact the _Enterprise,_ but was greeted with only static. Several of the inhabitants seemed to be watching him in the near distance, staring into the interior. One of them came closer. Spock could see what looked like soft feathers framing a small, delicate face. Then he noticed the eyes; a most startling color of aquamarine…


End file.
